Find your perfect hair colour with this easy myshade app

Apps that show what you’d look like as an elderly woman, if you put on 50 kgs, or even with different types of moustaches – they’re equal parts intriguing, hilarious, and horrifying. And while they might motivate you to up your laser removal game, step away from that donut, and investigate some of the more out there anti-aging treatments (Japanese nightingale poo facial anyone?) they mostly exist for entertainment value and a good snort-laugh with your mates.

Yet I’ve discovered an app that’s similarly entertaining but highly practical as it changes the way we choose our best hair colour: myshade by Clairol Nice’n Easy.

Choosing the right shade for your at-home hair colour can feel like you’re a contestant in a game show guessing “What’s behind the box”, in that how it looks on the model isn’t necessarily how it’ll look on you. So the myshade app takes the guess work out of it by applying different hair colours to your selfie, and then letting you know exactly what shade it is for when you purchase.

Here’s how it works:

Download the free myshade app from iTunes or Google Play, then snap a selfie, or upload a pic of yourself.

Crop the pic and colour in your hair silhouette with your finger.

Then start playing with the colours!

There are 40 shades in the app at the moment, sectioned by Blonde, Brown, Black and Red and the shades correlate to what’s available in the Nice’n Easy range.

While I prefer my hair close to it’s natural brunette colour, it was fun to explore the different sections to see how I’d look should I ever decide to try something totally different.

After realising that I’ll never make it as a blonde – despite the debatable promise of more fun – and if I ever decide to go black Morticia Adams will call and want her look back, I explored the tab marked My Shades. This is where it gets really practical.

The myshade app matches Nice’n Easy colours to the different shades that are already in your hair.

After deciding Natural Dark Brown (bottom right hand corner) was the shade for me, I had the option of clicking through to buy from online stockists; Coles, Woolworths, Priceline and Chemist Warehouse.

But given I’ve got a Chemist Warehouse around the corner, and was keen to get my colour on that day, I popped down there to pick up a box.

Then I realised there was a handy feature on the app that can be used in store: you can scan the barcode to virtually try on the product, and find a colour match using other brands.

Bonus, Clairol Nice’n Easy products were on sale! (They are usually $12.99)

Back home, I went through the usual process of applying the colour and letting it process – takes me about 30 minutes all up.

Because I’m a sucker for a Before & After, I snapped another pic in the same place, with the same outfit, same makeup, and almost the same goofy selfie face that afternoon post-colour (and indeed, a bit more effort into my blowdry as I was heading out that night).

While the light is different given the time of day, it’s easy to see how the process has evened up my hair colour, removing some of the fade and brassiness that can creep into my hair between salon colours. It’s also clearly added shine and condition.

I’d love to see a pic of you trying out different hair colours on the app – tag me on Instagram @FoxinFlats #myshadeapp.

I’ll be keeping that app on my phone for next time I need a colour touch up, along with the app that lets you try on mo’s, just because 😉